“Doctor saab operation nahin kar paye, hosh hi nahin aya bachche ko,” (The doctors could not operate on him, he is still unconscious) says Md Jalil, father of eight-year-old Israr, whose head was penetrated by shrapnel from the blast in Narol. Now, it looks like the boy has finally lost his battle for life. “He is on artificial life support system. His heart is functioning, but his brain is dead. The moment we take him off the ventilator, he will die,” says a young doctor. “We have explained this to his father, but he wants us to continue treating him,” he adds. But Jalil, a barber, refuses to lose hope. “I can’t blame the doctors, they are trying their best, but Israr needs to gain his consciousness first. Aap bhi dua karo (you too pray),” he says. “Shugra (his wife) is recovering upstairs. But I could not tell her about Israr as yet,” he adds. “The doctor has told us that the kid won’t survive, but what does this poor man do?” asks Abid Ali, Israr’s neighbour who rushed to VS hospital on Saturday with Jalil. “We can’t understand how to deal with this, Jalil still believes Israr will come around,” he adds. “Miracles happen, Jalil is waiting for one,” says a doctor in the hospital.